


The Phantom Thieves started because Ryuji was pissed off.

by spacark



Category: Persona 5
Genre: One Shot, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-02 00:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17877572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacark/pseuds/spacark
Summary: On a rainy day in March, the now ex Phantom Thieves spend their time in Café LeBlanc. Suddenly, the group grows interested in something that’s been on their mutual mind – the true beginning of the Phantom Thieves, and Akira’s awakening as one with it. And of course, telling the story takes longer than expected. With many people come many distractions.





	The Phantom Thieves started because Ryuji was pissed off.

**Author's Note:**

> Every new addition to the team gets a rundown on the Metaverse and all that, but do they even know how the Phantom Thieves truly began? I decided to write this with that thought in mind! Thank you for opening this page, and I hope you'll enjoy the answers I found to questions I didn't even know I had as well!

It was a rainy day in March. Usually there wouldn’t be much of a downpour during these days, and yet today the skies were filled with clouds that brought a waterfall of tears to the Earth’s surface. The rain matched the gloom of the group of juveniles who were gathered in a café in the Yongen-Jaya district. The soothing scent of coffee that filled the café was far different to the scent of rain outside the old building. The group of eight bore a large mutual feeling; the feeling of sadness before they were to indefinitely part ways with two members of the group within a few weeks. The leader who brought everyone together and his trusty companion and more or less group mascot – the feline creature who was most certainly not a cat. To make the most of their final time spent together the group would often meet, and the unlucky weather brought them to the café that their beloved leader lived in. The café owner had decided to close up shop to make space for the teenagers to use for the day.   
  
The group discussed various topics that come to mind – some related to the programs aired on the TV playing in the background, some remarks of dissatisfaction with aspects of daily life. And even though their major life-changing time of being Phantom Thieves are over – ever since the Christmas before – the topic of their otherworldly thievery would be brought up every so often. At one of those many moments, the most elegant member decided to ask a question regarding everyone’s favorite leader. A question that has been on her mind for quite a while.  
  
“Come to think of it,” Haru spoke, softly, as she placed her lukewarm coffee cup delicately on the table. Although her voice was quiet, it did not go unheard.  “I’ve been wondering something.”  
“Hit it,” Ryuji responded in a tone that was far louder than hers. “’Sup?”   
“Well, I…” Haru mumbles nervously. “As the latest one who joined the group, m-minus Akechi of course, there’s something…” Stumbling over her words, Haru took a breath to continue.  
“Go on,” Yusuke orders on his friendly, yet Yusuke-style demanding tone.   
“How did you all awaken your personas? Or, maybe, more specifically… Akira-kun, you were the first, right? I believe?” Akira nodded, a bit uncertain about the question as Haru’s mumbling is all over the place. “Yes…?” He answered, unconvincingly – even though sounding unconvincing was unlike him.  
Ann gasped. Suddenly, her curiosity grew as well. “Eh! Now that you say so. I’ve seen nearly everyone’s, except those of those two guys… oh, and Morgana, of course.”   
“Oh! R-Right… that would make Morgana the first! I’m sorry, Morgana, for forgetting about you…”  
“It’s okay, Haru.” Morgana responded. “No matter how amazing I am, I don’t know how I awakened Zorro. I just… had him?”   
“O-oh… r-right!” “Anyway, what you’re tryna ask, right- you wanna know how this guy awakened his persona? That’s some badass story, alright!” Ryuji boasted about his friend. Morgana was the first to respond to Ryuji’s claim. “Badass, and you were trembling the entire time, hiding behind him.”   
“Look, Morgana, this is not gonna be about that. And if it wasn’t for the both of us, you’d be still jailed there!” “And who made sure you even made it out of the palace alive?!” Morgana hissed.   
“So Akira-kun _was_ the first!” Haru smiled, interrupting the banter. “Oh, I’ve found myself wanting to know this! How did it happen, what did you feel at the time...!”  
“If I may add a few questions to it,” Makoto said, “How did you even enter the palace in the first place? You guys were pretty experienced by the time of Kaneshiro’s case; but what was it like at first?”  
  
Akira tilted his head a bit to the side. The amount of questions are somewhat overwhelming. “The whole story, right?” “So weird,” Ann interrupted, not even answering the ex-leader’s question. “We’re no longer the Phantom Thieves, but besides the whole metaverse explanation and everything, most of us don’t even know how it really started, huh?” “It’s kind of poetic,” Yusuke mused. “A ravishing mystery!”

“Eh, guess it never came to mind to tell it over and again.” Ryuji awkwardly laughed. “But it was pretty cool! And terrifying. Ah man, this takes me back. Let’s do this, man! Let’s give them the story!”   
Akira nodded, and closed his eyes for a moment, recollecting the memories of the origin of the phantom thieves. Every attending ex-phantom thief know of the habit that their quiet leader sometimes spends a few moments in thoughts before answering any question – whether with a honest or witty remark, so they all quietly awaited the moment he’d speak up.   
  
Akira took a deep breath before opening his eyes again. “The first time we entered Kamoshida’s palace… it was on my first day of attending Shujin Academy.”  
  
“Wait, the two of you got to the palace on the FIRST school day?! No WONDER you were such a big fat liar!” Everyone’s eyes were taken off Akira and were now on Ann. Hurriedly, she starts to explain herself: “He finally got to class after the fourth term! Miss Kawakami was _pretty_ mad. The class collectively decided some delinquent would never show up, but in the afternoon – there he was! Said he got lost!”   
“It’s true,” laughed Akira gently, with a contagious smile on his face. A smile that everyone had come to know and love. “When I got seated Ann called me a liar.” “Liar?” Makoto inquired. “You knew something was off about it, Ann?”  
“Sure did! We were both sheltering ourselves from the rain before first period, right before getting to school.”  
Akira nodded. “It rained a lot.”  
“Well, Kamoshida picked me up and brought me to the school in his car; he offered a ride to Akira too, but he refused. In between that moment and fifth period, I hadn’t seen him at all. But we were so close to school! There’s _no way_ he could’ve gotten lost for so long!”   
“That bastard Kamoshida,” Ryuji butted in, continuing the story. He clenched his fists. “Just when he drove off, I caught up. And then ran into Akira. I must’ve totally talked your ears off about how much I hate that guy!”  
Once again, Akira nods. “You did.”  
“And you looked SO clueless. Thinking about it, that was kinda funny, huh? Huh?” Ryuji elbowed his friend.   
“Just shows how little attention you’ve got for others,” Morgana groaned.   
“Hey! You wanna fight?!” Ryuji yelled at the feline creature. Yusuke grabbed Ryuji’s arms, of which the latter hysterically flailed in the general direction of the cat. “Not now, Ryuji.”  
“Augh! I’ll get you some other time, Monamona!” Ryuji said, throwing himself back on the chair. “Anyway! I complained about Kamoshida, but then it was all – ‘CRAP! We’re late, man, we gotta run!’ – and so we made our way to school, this guy followin’ me to there.”  
“Hey, I’m getting tired. When are we getting to the cool part?” Futaba yawned, stretching her arms.   
“Shortly,” Akira said, feeling slightly dejected by the girl’s comment. “We arrived, at Shujin…”  
“- Or at least, what was SUPPOSED to be school. Instead, this big-ass castle just was in its place! We were totally shocked!”  
Haru giggled quietly. “Hey, Akira? Did you feel like Ryuji tricked you?”  
Akira scratched his neck, smiling with a sense of guilt. “I kind of did.”  
Ryuji retorted. “Look, we both had NO idea what was going on, so we just accepted it at face value you know? Like someone just replaced the school. It was TOTALLY where Shujin had to be.”  
“Akira?”  
The boy nodded again. “Ryuji was impressed. ‘ _Those costumes, they’re pretty damn realistic’_. ‘ _Hey, this isn’t funny!’_ and all that.”   
“Wait,” Makoto interrupted the story. “Let me confirm this – Ryuji managed to accurately enter all the keywords in one go, while ranting to you about how much he despised Kamoshida?”  
“ _Who does that bastard Kamoshida think he is? Some king of a castle?_ ” Akira said, trying to imitate Ryuji’s words from back then, as he tries to remember. “He did. I don’t think the app responded entirely, though. We only heard the navigation directions once we made it back.”  
“Wow… that’s pretty impressive, Ryuji.” Makoto complimented while parting some strands of hair behind her ear. Ryuji laughs sheepishly. “Of course, I’m pretty damn amazin’, huh?” He puffed his cheeks slightly as he broke out in a wide grin. “Huh, huh!”   
Makoto decided to not agree or disagree to the question. Instead, she brought forth a few more questions. “But, that provides another question. I take it the navigation app was only on Akira’s phone; did you turn it on yourself? Why did you have it already? Or since when?”  
  
Akira blinked. “Ever since I got to Tokyo. I…” He lowers his gaze, towards the half empty cup of coffee in front of him. The scene he saw back then is nearly clear in his mind. “I was on Shibuya square, looking at my _normal_ navigation app, as it showed up and filled the screen.”  
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Akira again.  
“So even for you it just showed up, huh!” Futaba shrieked. “I know now it’s all supernatural stuff, but this is like a hacker’s dream! Remotely downloading stuff to your phone… A new personal quest: set!”  
Akira scratched his neck. “I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t.”  
“Aww, come on!”  
“So you opened the navigator the first moment you saw it, right?” Makoto inquired, interrogation voice set. “And?”  
“It didn’t open any menu,” Akira recollected, “or maybe I didn’t see it…”  
“You didn’t look?” Haru gasped.  
“I was surprised by what happened around me.”    
A few seconds of silence fell. Ann slammed her hand on the table. “Well, then what happened that distracted you?”  
“Time stopped.”  
“Time… stopped?”  
“Everyone in Shibuya froze in place. It was quiet.”  
The group exchanged glances. The navigation app had an effect like that too? Yusuke instinctively reached for his phone to check the application, but put his phone away the moment he realized that this was a futile attempt – the application no longer existed on anyone’s phone, after all.    
“Then, blue flames appeared… and formed the shape of Arsene. On the crossroads.”  
Everyone remained quiet, holding their breath waiting for the next piece of information.  
“He disappeared and everything continued as normal.”  
“What an appealing experience! Did you not consider it odd?” Yusuke gasped.   
“A bit. It was unexpected.” Akira answered. “But it was over as soon as it started.”  
“So you just accepted it and forgot about it soon after? Man, you really are special!” Morgana meowed.   
  
“We’re getting off-track,” Futaba complained. “So you got the app and stuff got weird. Back to the real story!”   
“Hold on,” Makoto stopped her. “Most of us got the app either after entering the Metaverse or being closely drawn to it. If you received the navigator in Shibuya, what does that mean…?”  
“… Mementos?” Ann tried. “Maybe he connected himself to Mementos on his arrival in Tokyo?”  
“Sounds reasonable to me. The dark god saw his chance to invite Akira to the Metaverse at that time?”  
“I first met him around that time. Maybe that night? I’m not sure.”  
“So the _Dark God_ tried to lure you to Mementos by giving you the navigator, but it failed at the time… I can settle with that answer for now. I don’t think we’ll ever know the truth, anyway.” Makoto concluded. “Okay, go on. You happened to have the navigator open on your way to school. Did you open it yourself?”  
“I didn’t.”  
“And you didn’t notice it was running?”  
“I didn’t.” Akira repeated himself.   
“Oh…” Makoto finds herself at a loss of words as her questions find dissatisfactory answers.   
  
“Well then,” Haru giggled. “It looks like some things will remain a mystery.”  
Ryuji sighed. “Anyway, man! So we walked into the castle!”  
“And got captured.” Akira stated bluntly.   
The blonde sighed and shaked his head. “Eh, man… we could’ve introduced that in a more epic way you know?”   
“… We got captured. Put in a cell.”  
“And then, that bastard Kamoshida showed up. In pink undies, a cape, and a shitty-ass crown.”  
Haru gasped. “He wore so little?”  
“Oh man.” Ann groaned. “I’ll never forget that sight. Definitely the WORST get-up of any palace ruler we’ve seen.”   
Ryuji groaned along. “Can’t disagree with that. That version of Kamoshida sure forgot how to get dressed.”  
“Oh, and the other WORST get-up was that bikini! Augh! I’ll never forgive that asshole!”  
“Bikini?” Yusuke asked. “Why are we talking about lingerie and swimwear?”  
“The cognitive Ann,” Akira tried to explain, “Wore only that.”  
Haru gasped again, turning her gaze to Ann. “Mister Kamoshida’s Palace had you in it?”  
“Yes, and it was the ABSOLUTE worst. And the way she talked, too! It was awful! Let’s just stop talking about it! I don’t want to remember this.”  
Everyone nodded, agreeing to spare Ann’s feelings to the subject.    
  
Futaba, however, butted in by completely changing the subject – the way only she would. “Akira. Thirsty. I want coffee.”  
“Really? We’re almost at the real deal part!” Ryuji complained.   
Akira, however, already rose from his seat and was tightening the apron he was wearing. “It’s fine.”  
He moved himself towards the counter. “What kind of coffee do you want, Futaba?”  
“Hm… the usual! You know, with that fancy name bean!”   
“Right, right.” Akira smiled as he reached for Futaba’s Favorite, as he had mentally dubbed the jar of beans that was just in the middle section behind the counter.    
Ryuji let out a defeated sigh. “Maaan, I don’t want to hold up the story! Can’t we continue?”  
“Go ahead,” Yusuke nodded, thoroughly enjoying the tale.   
“So I got pretty damn pissed off at Kamoshida!” Ryuji boasted. “And then eh. He ordered for our execution. Which I absolutely wasn’t down for.”  
“That’s… understandable.” Makoto acknowledged. “So you picked a fight with him?”  
“Sure did! Straight up punched one of his damn guards down.”  
Akira, who finished roasting some of Futaba’s Favorites, nodded to confirm Ryuji’s statement. “He did. And it backfired.”  
“Yeah, alright. Seconds later I was on the ground. And told this guy to run, but he didn’t.”  
“Sounds like him, alright.” Ann smiled. The others nodded in agreement – none of them would expect the Akira they know to try and escape and let another person be at such a time.  
“So, what did Akira-kun do?” Haru asked, glancing over to the now bartender.  
“Watch.” Akira admitted. “I got cornered. Kamoshida punched Ryuji.”   
“And then he shouted!” Ryuji laughed. “Man, that surprised that bastard.”  
The other people in the room held their breath again. Save Futaba, who was moving herself towards the counter to reach for her coffee. Akira flicked her finger away from the cup, as the coffee was not fully prepared yet.   
“Kamoshida gave him a beating and got him pinned to the wall,” Ryuji followed up, noticing Akira was distracted for a moment. “Pinned,” Makoto repeated, her face flustered as a mental image of it popped up in her mind. Ann broke her gaze that was at times aimed at Akira as well.  
“I then heard Arsene.” Akira said, having now grabbed Futaba’s arm to keep her from taking the cup from under his nose. “He mocked me.”  
“Man, sure is an experience we all sat through.” Ryuji sighed. “Anyway! So this guy yelled again and saved my ass there. Man, I can never thank you enough for that.”   
Akira was unsure how to respond – unsure whether a ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘no problem’ would suffice better in this case. So instead he continued. “His knights knocked my glasses off, and then I had the mask.”  
“Dude, you totally made a show of it! Blood, blue flames, chains! And then you just wiped those knights out in seconds!”  
“I bet you pissed your pants.” Morgana sneered.   
“Shut up, cat.”  
Akira loosened his grip on Futaba’s arm as he passed her the cup of Futaba’s Favorite Coffee and smiled. “It felt good.”  
  
“.. So, that was it?” Ann asked. “Your awakening?”  
“What else do you want to know?” Akira asked, unsure of what was expected for the story’s continuation or ending.   
“Come on, at least tell about how I saved you guys!” Morgana yelped. “Wait, actually, let me in on this! So these guys made a run for it aaaand then they could count their blessings, as they found me!”  
“Captured. In another cell. Whining.”  
“So we rescued Morgana.” Akira confirmed, although everyone was well aware of this fact. “And then more shadows appeared.”  
“Yeah-ha! I was seriously worried about using the two of you, but the moment you transformed, I knew I made the right choice.”  
Makoto coughed, continuing her interrogative questions. “Transformed? Didn’t you awaken to your ‘rebellious spirit’ just a moment ago?”  
“I know this comes as a total shocker,” Morgana explained for Akira, “but this guy had probably the weakest will of all of us at the start. Even worse than Haru.”  
“Oh?” Unfazed by the delivered criticism, Haru raised her hand to her mouth. “How do you mean?”  
Ryuji blinked. “Yeah wait, come to think of it! You really kept just switching in and out of that outfit! That’s what you mean, right, Morgana?”  
Akira blinked. He never really thought about it – but he realized at this moment too that everyone else would always remain in their Phantom Thief attire after awakening. He didn’t. Running around, his school uniform was his trusty wardrobe, and during fights the black-clad outfit would reappear.   
“Kamoshida definitely considered all of us a threat, so him changing opinions couldn’t have been it. I believe that, in short, you only had the will to fight just to get yourself and Ryuji out of there. But at least that was enough for that day.”  
Yusuke stretched his arms, framing the image of the bartendening ex-Phantom Thieves leader between his thumbs and index fingers. “This was only an occurrence during the first visit, I presume?”  
“Yeah.” Akira nodded. “The other times, we had a reason to be there.”  
“It’s… so surprising to hear,” Makoto admitted. “All of us got exhausted after awakening and managed to get out fast, but you really had to drag yourself all the way through.”  
“Of course, I was there to lend a hand!” Morgana declared proudly. “And then there was useless Ryuji.”  
“Hey! Stop that already! I was plenty useful the times afterwards!”  
“Really? Like when you tried to save those volleyball players by trying to take them out of the castle?”  
“Listen up here you damn cat, if you had just told us that wasn’t possible-“  
“I DID tell you! You just refused to listen!”  
“You didn’t!”  
“Oh yes I did!”  
“Guys.” Yusuke tried to break the banter.  
“Akira? Can we have curry tonight? I want Sojiro’s curry.” Futaba waved at her key item. Akira took the empty cup Futaba handed to him during the wave. “We can ask Boss when he comes back.”  
“Ah! CRAP!” Ann shouted through the café, her voice volume far above the acceptable amount of decibels. “I’m running late for a shoot in Shibuya! I’m sorry guys, I really have to go!”   
“A modelling session in this downpour? Ah, how the drenched clothes would-“   
“Yusuke, you moron. It’s indoors.”  
“Oh!” Haru gasped as she checked the time as well. “I have a scheduled company meeting later, too. I would best take my leave as well. Thank you for having me.”  
And within seconds, Haru and Ann seem to have left the shop. Ryuji groaned. “We didn’t even make it to the point where I would shine!”  
“To be frank, Ryuji, I’m not sure if anyone would consider that a highlight.”  
“Oh cut me some slack! You too, Makoto?! You all ganging up on me!?”  
Morgana grinned, seated within safe distance from the flailing vulgar boy. Yusuke gathered his belongings. “I suppose I will take my leave as well.”  
  
“Come on…” Ryuji sighed. “Oh, crap! Actually, I have to leave too. Promised to help mom out with some household chores.”  
“That’s actually quite responsible of you. Well done, Ryuji.” Makoto complimented him, as she gathered her own stuff to not impose on the Boss’ kindness of keeping LeBlanc closed for the teenager’s group use. “Well, I’ll have to make up for some lost time where I did not study. Oh, Futaba?”   
“Yeah? What’s it?”  
“Don’t forget you can call me anytime if you need help studying for middle school. I’ll gladly make some time for you.”   
“U—uh—uh yeah! Yeah, will do! Not that I need it, of course!”  
Makoto laughed. “Of course you don’t. You’re really smart, after all. Well then. I will take my leave. Thank you for having us over, Akira. And please extend my thanks to Boss once again for allowing us to be here.”  
Akira nodded. “I will.”  
  
Café LeBlanc ran empty, leaving only Akira, Futaba, Morgana and an empty coffee cup. The three of them spent a few quiet moments as Akira made his way to the sink to clean the dishes. The downpour outside seemed to never end. A rainy day that started filled with gloom, but this gloom transformed into a satisfied feeling.   
  
And, of course, Ryuji was never given his chance to tell the others about his legendary moment of awakening to Captain Kidd ever after that.    
  


**Author's Note:**

> WASSSSUPPP you made it to the end. While I never approve of the Ryuji bullying I tried my best to match the characters' and games tone, so that sadly includes a lot of nasty remarks towards this precious boy. I’M SO SORRY. As for Akira, I wanted to mostly play with his quiet attitude so went for short sentences. Hope they weren’t a pain to read or made him sound unintelligent or anything www hhh h   
> Thank you so much for reading!!!!


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